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Luke 16:1-13 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. [2] And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. [3] Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. [4] I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. [5] So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? [6] And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. [7] Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. [8] And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. [9] And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. [10] He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. [11] If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? [12] And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? [13] No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16 shows us the correct attitude towards money. There are over 2000 scriptures on possessions and money, because God wants us to know the right way to look at having things, and to realize that the LOVE of money is the ROOT of all evil. And as verse 13 above states that we cannot serve God AND money. God is the owner of all that I possess, I am the manager of it! Everything we have belongs to God!! We get to show Him how faithful we will be managing the things he has given to us. This is not just talking about things, but our selves,talents, time, and the gospel. Romans 12:1--We are to GIVE to God our bodies as a LIVING sacrifice. We are to forsake all to become Jesus' disciple. (Luke 14:33) I Peter 4:10--says we are to minister one to another as a good steward. Ephesians 5:15-16--we are to walk circumspectly, redeeming the time. Our time belongs to God! We need to judge what we are doing with our time. I Thessolonians 2:4--God has entrusted us with the gospel. We need to give ourselves to managing this well! It says here, "...not as pleasing men, but God." In the parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16, he was hurting (his master had upbraided him because of his mismanagement of his goods). The steward took account of what he was doing, then he took action to remedy the outcome of his mismanagement. If we are hurting, we need to take account of how we are managing the assets the Lord has given us. Then we need to take action-- repent, and ask God for His grace to change. Then we need to use our opportunities wisely. The master in this parable said his unjust servant ended up acting wisely. He did something to remedy his situation. When we manage wisely the things the Lord has given us, we are laying up for ourselves treasure in heaven. The treasure we are laying up are the lives we have affected for the Lord. Examine yourself. How are you using your time? How are you using your talents? How are you using your opportunities? Trust is something that has to be earned. If we want God to trust us with more, we must wisely use what He has already given to us. In the parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30, the servants were all given talents. First, we need to realize that God has given us all something to use for Him. All we have to do is use it!! He will increase it! But if we bury it, it cannot be used!! The servant who was fearful, did not know the master. Knowledge dispels fear! When we know Him, we trust Him and we serve Him, and then He can trust us. |